It’s not the first time that US citizens have had their human and constitutional rights violated by the so-called government. The vigilante Right loves the lynch mob. Young Manning is a martyr to the cause of justice in exposing the atrocious practices of the US military-industrial complex both here and abroad.

Tyranny can be both good and bad, either moral or immoral when applied and used as a trope; the use of tropes in this manner, all tropes, is what enables triumphant exceptionalism and what allows the triumphantly exceptional to frame bad as good and immoral as moral; but since we are all free and equal, we need not think about such things.

What, in God’s name, is the purpose in this article conflatibg Bradley Manning’s case with that of the Algerian Bouazizi other than that they are both “young”, “inexperienced” and “impatient with political situations ...” in the U.S. and in Algeria?  Apparently the purpose was to prove the sacrificial idealism of youth, inexperience and impatience.
  But, but, but ... the Algerian’s suicidal self-immolation is said to have started a large street demonstration, whether that was his purpose or not.
Manning’s act is an attempt to use the internet to get important information out to American citizens, so they can know enough about what their government is doing in world affairs to act as intelligent citizens.  Sending the State Department files to WikiLeaks made possible a chance for American citizens to regain their lost democratic power of self-rule—if they are smart enough to realize the possibilities.
  True, there are similarities in the two cases, but each deserves its own separate articulation because of the significant differences and the difficulties of understanding each.
  Both put their lives at risk. But other than that important similarity, the differences between the two cases are profound.
  At least, that’s my take.

Manning is turning out to be a true hero and patriot. He knows that all he needs
to do to make the brutal treatment stop is invent something to paint a picture of
Julian Assange as his co-conspirator. By holding fast to the truth at considerable
pain and suffering, he is thwarting the administration’s best efforts to rid
themselves of the threat Wikileaks poses to state secrecy.

The administration needs to make an example of Assange, yet every step they take
in that direction is a step deeper into the kind of authoritarianism Assange seeks
to expose. Quite the conundrum for the eggheads at Langley.

Poor Manning He has many strikes against him, He is
Young, Gay, military, locked up 22 years old lot more
time in Solitary than if he was my age over sixty.
The don´t ask don´t tell applies for GAYS and
Suicide, don´t ask about suicide and we wouldn´t say
anything, until some one blows the whistle. Military
because in civil court he would not be TORTURED, so
the public can only hear about the torture because
everything military off limits so the can say he is
alive or dead, you JOE public sit down shut up, you
can´t handle the truth, only ass hole military dick-
tates the truth around here BOY!

Isn’t it wonderful that we have a Democrat as president, so human dignity, civil liberties, and the due process of law are observed and protected—unlike the way it would be under the terrible Republicans?

It is outrageous that our government would allow the military to torture a citizen of the United States that was doing his best to be a patriot to the United States.  Nothing at all has been proven against him in a court of law, but is apparently guilty until proven innocent, then because he is a GI, the government is not responsible for the harm they have done to him because of being tortured and held in solitary confinement.  There must be a Grand Jury investigation, or a Senate investigation or both, because the military just must not be allowed to destroy a U.S. Citizen, who volunteered to defend the nation against foreign and domestic enemies, especially when there isn’t even a draft.  As far as I can see, if Bradly Manning is guilty, he is only guilty of defending as he saw fit against domestic enemies of our country.

MR: COLE thank you for having the courage to speak
up!
Yes POOR MR.Manning, we need to go to the street and
demand his release how does a population force the
military to behave and listen to public demand. What
tools do we have to spank the military and get back
in line, who pays your bills, sit down ans shut up
BOBBY GATES AND MONSTER MULLEN, there is nothing
admiral about these blood dripping hands. I must be
dreaming. America is run by Military corporate
dictatorship. What can we do?

As a supporter of pvt. Manning, I fear that unless a sucessful jail break can be orchestrated or the UN takes some formal action, neither of which will ever remotely occur, I’m afraid Brad will continue to languish in this hell that the land of “Freedom and Justice For All” has devised until our righteous “Nation of Laws” either concocts some new legality that they can claim he violated and apply retroactively or rework some archaic absurdity still on the books with which to charge him. One thing for sure is that in no uncertain terms our govt. is indeed torturing Mr. Manning in the hope that he’ll “rat out” coconspirators or roll over on Mr. Assange. What we may be seeing here in it’s early stages is the US version of the “Stalinist Guide To Good Government”! Can our own “Cultural Revolution” be far behind? FREE BRADLEY MANNING!!!!!

****************

This was originally for truthout but they denied posting it as it
‘appeared to be a duplicate’ at their ‘american culture of
cruelty’.

http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-P-
S/dp/0061965588/ref=sr_1_1?
s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295910147&sr=1-1

You will have to copy and paste this into the address bar.

This is a link to the first few pages of Howard Zinn’s ‘The
People’s History of the United States’.

What everybody here is clambering over is what our ancestors
brought over from Europe. A PURE EUROPEAN SOCIOPATHIC
TRAIT. And that just goes back to the time columbus touched
shore in the western hemisphere. Obviously the mental
problems of ‘the love of cruelty to anything and everything’
has been festering for millennium and is definitely an attribute
that grew and festered in the ‘cradles of humanity’. And IT HAS
ITS ROOTS IN THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION if one dares to
look that far back.

To call it a culture of America is doing the indigenous people
of the western hemisphere an injustice. They were not without
their prejudices and wars and such, but you find quickly in the
first pages of Zinn’s books at the non-violence inherent in the
Indians towards ‘new’ people visiting these shores.

Read what is available at the link and see if you think this
‘american cruelty’ is specific to this new era.